Fred Phelps’ crusade against Rogers is guided by fear, not divine

Pastor Fred Phelps is a man afraid. Recent media coverage has detailed his crusade… Pastor Fred Phelps is a man afraid. Recent media coverage has detailed his crusade against Mr. Rogers and his Kansas congregation’s attempts to picket various Pittsburgh organizations that have ties to the nicest man in America.

Many have questioned his timing for launching this attack. Why would Phelps wait until after Rogers died to criticize his views on tolerance and acceptance? Some suggest that attacking Rogers while he was alive would prove futile. Given that Rogers taught not hate, but love, not rage, but compassion, Phelps’s campaign would be spitting into the wind.

Yet, I propose that Phelps has a more pragmatic reason – he wanted to avoid defamation lawsuits.

Slander – defamation by speech – and libel – defamation in print – are both serious charges. Libel law tends to favor the victims, Pennsylvania law especially so. If accused of slander, the speaker is held responsible. If a newspaper prints what he or she said, and treats it as fact, they too can be held responsible.

Loopholes exist. For instance, public figures have a much harder time proving that false information is detrimental to their reputations, and that this information was printed or said despite the speaker/newspaper knowing it to be false.

Research into these laws shows that each case can revolutionize what is considered defamatory. Yet one rule has held fast throughout libel law – it’s nearly impossible to defame the dead. A Cupcake, Ill., housewife can go public and say that Elvis appeared in her aspirin bottle without repercussions. On a more serious note, Phelps can claim that Rogers aided and abetted homosexuality by remaining hush about it, and face no lawsuits.

Both Mr. Rogers and Phelps are public figures – the latter gaining notoriety for organizing protests against Matthew Shepard. If Phelps commented on what he views as Rogers’ sins of omission while Rogers was living, it would be newsworthy.

Moreover, it would not be fodder for a defamation lawsuit. Why then did Phelps delay? He wanted a media unhesitant to cover his accusations.

This only proves his cowardice. Rogers belongs to the pantheon that includes heroes who seem startled by their acclaim. It is hard to criticize the humble, especially when they have the capacity for recourse.

Tony Norman, in a March 7 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette column, suggests that Rogers would have taken the high road, “[he] would’ve cut off his accuser’s oxygen by simply living the gospel every day.” It is possible that he would have responded simply, reaffirming his message of acceptance, and thus deflating Phelps’ rage.

If Phelps didn’t fear a lawsuit from Rogers, was he then afraid that others might not respond so calmly? Would newspapers, fearing lawsuits, deny him coverage? Libel law is a tangle of regulations, operating policies and working definitions. Yet the death rule remains. Phelps took the low road, and fights Rogers not while he was man, but now, when he is a memory.

Even so, Phelps does not present his opinion as fact, which could open him to defamation litigation. The nature of his arguments – that homosexuality is wrong, and that Mr. Rogers is damned – make them inherently opinion. “His syrupy teachings led millions astray. He was a wuss and he was an enabler of wusses,” Phelps said of Rogers.

Given the inflammatory nature of his words and actions, perhaps Phelps was afraid that newspapers would not cover his activities. Norman aptly called him a “publicity whore of Babylon.” Clearly Phelps needs the media to spread his teachings – hate, fear and irrationality require a conduit.

Phelps’ media whoring shows that he answers not to a higher power, as he claims, but to sensationalism. By exploiting a loophole in the law, and waiting for his accused to die, Phelps reveals his true character, a judger afraid of judgment.

“Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:1. Columnist Sydney Bergman can be reached at sbergman@pittnews.com.